Psychologically Invincible and Physically Formidable

Monthly Archives: January 2016

So this weekend is kind of a big weekend in the South Florida running community. Yesterday was the tropical 5K (which my friend Bryan won in convincing fashion!). I missed that. Then 25,000 runners took to the streets in the Miami Marathon and Half Marathon this morning. I missed that too (for the first time in 3 years). There was also the Mayors Mile and 5K in Davie. Yeah, I wasn’t there either. And finally tomorrow, the Raven will be running for the 15,000th consecutive day. Quite a milestone, but I won’t be able to join him

You see, this weekend (and for the past five weeks and who knows how many more) I’m living through something else Miami is famous for: bad drivers and dangerous cycling conditions. Unfortunately my concussion symptoms significantly worsened over this past week. I spent Thursday in the ER. Thankfully my CT brain scan came back with no extremely serious diagnosis. But I do need to follow up with a neurologist, and a chiropractor, and, and, and…

That hit and run over a month ago, it was the Christmas gift that keeps giving (migraines). I hope, I really hope it won’t take too much longer to heal. In the meantime, my health and fitness goals… yeah, right! And you know, who really needs to make a living anyway? I rent my brain for a living (I’m an IT consultant, or at least *was* prior to that crash). The long term repercussions of that hit remain to be seen, but short term I haven’t been myself. I’m trying to stay positive here, but it certainly isn’t easy. This has devastated my physical health and my running (which effectively is my emotional health). But time heals right? I hope so. I need to get back out there. The road and the trails are calling my name. But for now you can find me in bed, dreaming about running

Wow it’s been an insane month! I nearly died a month ago today, and I’m still feeling the repercussions of that crash. My health has been a roller coaster. Some days I feel somewhat alive, others… yeah, not so much. I’ve kept running though, very slowly, but running all the same. As important as my physical health is, mental health is equally important. And running is critical to my mental health. So slowly, often very slowly I’ve been getting out there and putting one foot in front of the other. Most days that time was when I felt best. The majority of the rest of the day was spend in bed wishing I had the health to live life to the fullest

I had another great weekend planned with two potentially great races. First was the XTERRA Virginia Key 10K, then off to visit with my grandparents for the Naples Daily News Half Marathon. Neither went as planned. It took significantly longer for me to get to Virginia Key on Saturday morning. Miami Dade transit isn’t exactly an efficient means of travel. I really wish I had a bike to ride these days…

Anyway, I did eventually make it to the race (on time) and again due to my health had to consciously hold back. No ‘racing’, just running easy. Thankfully it was a very small race so I still had a shot of winning my age group. On a typical day I had no doubt I could run away with the overall here, but this was certainly not a typical day. Between holding back, and a little bit of a trail marking snafu I ended up near the back of the pack. I finished 10th – out of 12! I still won the age group since I was literally the only one in it! The trails were fun to run, quite interesting actually, as there were some obstacles in place for mountain bikes which provided a little bit of a challenge in a few places and certainly made for some abnormal terrain. Alls well that ends well, right? It was no where near my ideal time, but I still enjoyed myself (and managed to keep alive the shot at one XTERRA age group title)

Next, it was off to Naples. Or not… those county busses didn’t exactly get me where I needed to be in time to catch my Greyhound. So I spent the afternoon trying (and failing) to find a ride to Naples. This had been another race I really looked forward to. It’s a fast course. Originally I had been targeting a PR (and Boston [6:17/mi] pace). Now I was just going to run it for fun: just relax and enjoy the race atmosphere while hopefully finishing in sub 1:35/1:40 still. Plus it was a great excuse to visit with family. Well that clearly didn’t happen. I never made it to Naples… and the race never went off! Apparently, some downed power lines and storm debris forced them to cancel it that morning. So, I didn’t feel too bad about missing my ride out there, but I was still frustrated that the run never happened. So I just went for a run on South Beach instead

Unpredictable, chaotic and a total roller coaster ride: Yeah, thats life! Live it up, cause you never know what its going to throw at you next

I saw these videos the other day, and immediately thought of the resolutions I had set this year. One of my major goals is to enjoy nature more, not just get outside. I’m outside all the time. Biking to work (and trying not to get run over), walking or biking to run errands, etc. But there is a difference between being outside surrounded by steel and concrete, and being one with nature. The later is much more enjoyable

As I reflected on the two previous years, and the things that have made me happy recently (often despite some pretty crazy circumstances), it became pretty obvious. I rediscovered the love of running in Romania – running the Black Sea coast, the hills and forests of Transylvania, parks in Bucuresti, various countrysides and the shores of the Danube Delta. Then I came home and kept that going along the beach with Raven. Last year I had some pretty epic runs discovering caves in Bermuda, along Baltic Beaches at sunset and various other places. I ran my first couple trail races – and loved them. Running used to be my time to connect with myself, but this opened up a whole new world. Now when I run body and mind become one – with the world, not just with themselves. I get lost in the beauty of nature, and every step immerses me further

So I set goals with that in mind: To explore some of the national parks here at home in the US. So far I’ve only ever been to Everglades, and that very briefly. To go camping, to run more trails. To travel more for natural adventure and less for cities. To race more off-road. I even set the ambitious goal of winning my age group in TWO different XTERRA regions! FL would require a couple Tampa trips, and AZ is loaded with parks and natural splendor. This would be an fantastic year

Well, before it even started these goals all took a significant hit. A painful and nearly fatal hit. That mini cooper that hit me on Dec 17th did a whole lot more damage than I originally thought. I didn’t remember hitting my head, but when the headaches hadn’t gone away weeks later, I decided to take a look at my bike helmet. Sure enough: it was cracked right in the front, near where I had a small scratch on my face. Obviously I had hit my head, and blacked out briefly (long enough to not remember hitting my head). Obviously head trauma (and resulting concussion) was a significant result of this crash. Hopefully one that would eventually heal completely

I had been considering a couple races that first weekend of the year, but these were now no longer an option. Also at risk was my first planned trip (and milestone for that XTERRA goal). January 10 – XTERRA White Tanks 20K. I had been quite excited for this trip. Now it was questionable

In the end, I felt good enough (barely) to fly to AZ. I had to give myself conscious permission to not start the race, or not finish, if my body indicated that was appropriate. I also had to force myself to ease up, and not push too hard. I’m competitive when I race – that totally sucked! Knowing that I could, and normally would, be pushing harder and running faster… yet for reasons outside of my control having to tame myself… it put a major damper on the race. I still placed third in my age group, but unfortunately based on XTERRA scoring rules that eliminated me from contention for the AG regional title. I’m still glad I went (and likely will still go back for the series finale in March [health permitting]), but just like that one of my goals for the year was shot

I also had to ease up on everything else during the trip. Normally when I travel, I move at 1,000 miles a minute. Trying to fit in everything possible in. This time my agenda was sleep and rest as much as possible. So thank you to my host Tomer for putting up with that. Next time I’m out in AZ I’ll have to make up for lost time – and there most certainly will be a next time. Running those trails in Arizona was an incredible experience and was certainly a mental and emotional boost at a critical time. I can’t wait to go back and do it again when my health allows me to truly enjoy it